(Post 168 of 263)

I finally reached the moment in my chase of the police reports for the insurance matter that I was given a phone number to call so I don’t have to keep going to the precinct for nothing. I do not mind using the phone in Spanish now, at least no more than I do in French or English (meaning augh, but if I must), except that you never know if you’re going to get a good connection. It’s like when I’m in an open area with a lot of background noise, I suddenly don’t understand anything. So it’s definitely an issue more with my hearing (which I’m actually not concerned about) than my language skills.

Still, I was a bit surprised when I picked up the phone yesterday afternoon without spending all day talking myself into it. I got transferred a few times but everyone seemed to understand what I needed (and understand me, period), just not who I needed to speak with. The line was crystal clear, so that helped a ton. I finally landed on a wonderful gentleman who was appalled about how I’ve been led on a wild goose chase all this time — he actually said that, calling the process a “búsqueda inútil.” He ultimately could not help me about my documents, but gave me another number to try instead and told me exactly what to say when the person picked up to cut down on a few transfers.

I decided to try again this morning. I still got a few transfers, but it was way more efficient, and I finally got someone who asked for my case number. He was then able to pull up my file and confirm, that, nope, the docs aren’t ready yet. It’s a long weekend, so try again Tuesday. Try again, not they’ll be ready on Tuesday. 🙁

Having a phone number now is going to make the process so much less stressful and frustrating, no more two-hour trips to the precinct for nothing. At least, I hope!

Also, today is my anniversary of becoming a permanent resident! I am now technically able to start my citizenship application! I was told by my lawyers to wait because the process is more stringent for a youngster like me (ha!), plus citizenship applications are backed up anyway. So I should spend time studying for the citizenship test and continuing to strengthen my Spanish skills. So, really, this whole burglary exercise has just been linguistic preparation for that!